Various nodes in integrated circuits frequently need to be to driven to a particular condition before some specified operation can be performed. For example, a word line or a bit line in a memory device may need to be driven to a specific voltage before a read or a write operation is performed. The node may sometimes be driven to the specified voltage using a standard power source (e.g., VCC for high level voltages or VSS for low level voltages including ground) of the integrated circuit. In other cases, however, the node may need to be driven to a pumped voltage that is greater or less than the available standard power source voltages. If, for example, VCC is 3 volts and VSS is ground (0 volts), the node may nonetheless need to be driven to 6 volts and/or −6 volts in order to perform some operation. In these embodiments, one or more charge pumps may be used to provide pumped voltages that can be used to drive the node to the pumped voltages.
A complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) inverter is typically used together with one or more charge pumps in order to drive a node to one or more pumped voltages. For example, a single CMOS inverter may be coupled between low level and high level charge pumps, and have an output coupled to the node, and may use energy from the charge pumps to drive the node to the pumped low level voltage (e.g., −6 volts) and/or the pumped high level voltage (e.g., 6 volts). If the node has a relatively large capacitive load, however, driving the node using such a single CMOS inverter may take a relatively long time and/or consume a relatively large amount of power. In some applications, such as a mobile or any low-power apparatus, this relatively large power consumption may be unacceptable.